# Ruth Thornton ## Posts - [Weekly biodiversity and sustainability news #5](https://ruththornton.com/uncategorized/weekly-biodiversity-and-sustainability-news-5/): 11/18/2025: Harbor seal escapes attack by orcas, beaver-built ponds attract pollinators, spiders build giant decoys to trick enemies, ocean bacteria break down plastics and more. Welcome to the fifth weekly compilation of newsworthy biodiversity and sustainability news! Scroll down to read about: Biodiversity: Pesticides and plastic pollution: Agriculture: I hope you enjoy the stories. If any particularly resonate with you, please leave a comment or share other recent stories you think others would find interesting. Biodiversity The first story is not your typical “biodiversity science” tale, but rather a dramatic account of a harbor seal escaping a pod of killer whales (also […] - [Welcome to Nature Signals!](https://ruththornton.com/uncategorized/welcome-to-nature-signals/): Welcome to Nature Signals, my Substack newsletter, where I write about biodiversity and human actions that affect it, such as pollution, climate change, agriculture, etc. You’ll find the last few posts on this page, and the full archive is available on Substack. Once a week I’ll also share a compilation of recent news articles that caught my eye on these issues. If you like this blog, say hi in the comments below, or contact me directly. I truly would love to hear what resonates with you and what topics you are particularly interested in. It takes a lot of work […] - [Weekly biodiversity and sustainability news #4](https://ruththornton.com/uncategorized/weekly-biodiversity-and-sustainability-news-4/): 11/15/2025: Orcas hunt great white sharks, golden mussels are overrunning the California Delta, more action needed for climate change, Louisiana communities lead pollution monitoring, and more… RUTH THORNTON Welcome to the fourth weekly compilation of noteworthy biodiversity and sustainability news! And apologies for the delay – it’s been a busy week, so this edition is a little late. I’ll be back on my normal schedule next week Lots of news happened again this week – scroll down to read about: I hope you enjoy the articles. If any particularly resonate with you, please leave a comment or share other recent […] - [Tainted Tides: The Hidden Threat Facing Canada's Sea Otters](https://ruththornton.com/uncategorized/tainted-tides-the-hidden-threat-facing-canadas-sea-otters/): Sea otters survived hunters and near-extinction. But they can’t hide from “forever chemicals.” I was disheartened to read about a recent study that found that every sea otter examined by biologists along the coast of British Columbia was contaminated by toxic PFAS chemicals. The closer the otters were to urban areas, the higher their PFAS levels were. Losing this charismatic species would have devastating, cascading effects on the coastal ecosystem, causing economic losses to nearby communities due to damaging effects on fisheries, carbon sequestration and ecotourism. That’s because sea otters, while cute and charismatic, are also key “ecosystem engineers” that help sustain kelp forests along the Pacific Coast.  […] - [Hold the sixth extinction - for now](https://ruththornton.com/uncategorized/hold-the-sixth-extinction-for-now/): A new study finds biodiversity loss is slowing, but not enough to celebrate yet. Amid the doom and gloom we’ve been hearing about the biodiversity crisis, a study came out last week with good news: the loss of species seems to be slowing down globally. According to the study results, extinction rates over the past 500 years peaked around 100 years ago for all assessed animal and plant species and have generally declined since then. Don’t get me (or the study authors) wrong: the biodiversity crisis is serious and needs to be addressed immediately and assertively with effective conservation actions to prevent […] ## Pages - [Nature Blog](https://ruththornton.com/nature-blog/): Nature Signals Welcome to Nature Signals, my Substack newsletter, where I write about biodiversity and human actions that affect it, such as pollution, climate change, agriculture, etc. Once a week I’ll also share a compilation of recent news articles that caught my eye on these issues. You can access a full archive here. Thanks for reading! If you like this blog, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to get new issues sent directly to your inbox: I’d love to hear from you – say hi in the comments below, subscribe to my newsletter or contact me directly (on […] - [Contact Me](https://ruththornton.com/contact-me/): I’d love to hear from you! You can use the form below to get in touch with me. - [Butterflies in crisis: Researchers sound alarm over steep nationwide declines](https://ruththornton.com/butterflies/butterflies-in-crisis/): I wanted to start off my newsletter with a series of stories I wrote about the drastic decline of butterflies in the U.S. over the past 20 years, with one out of every five butterflies lost. The reasons are complicated and difficult to parse apart, but the top suspected causes are habitat loss, pesticides and climate change. And it appears that the top cause is different depending on the region – so, for example, in the Midwest, which has a lot of agriculture, pesticides are emerging as the primary cause EAST LANSING, MI – Butterflies are among the most beloved […] - [A southeast Michigan township’s struggle to save a rare butterfly from extinction](https://ruththornton.com/butterflies/saving-a-rare-butterfly-from-extinction/): This article continues the story of the Poweshiek skipperling (pronounced POW-uh-SHEEK), a rare prairie butterfly that almost went extinct a couple of years ago. People may think that losing one tiny butterfly that most people have never heard of is not a big deal. After all, there are so many other, more charismatic, animals that are also endangered and covered more by mainstream media. The problem is, it’s not just the Poweshiek. We’ve lost one in five butterflies over the past 20 years in the U.S. Why? It’s an alarming sign that something isn’t right in our environment. Scientists think it’s probably […] - [Saving a once-common prairie butterfly from the brink of extinction](https://ruththornton.com/butterflies/saving-a-once-common-prairie-butterfly-from-the-brink-of-extinction/): EAST LANSING, MI – A small butterfly, once a common sight on the prairies of the Midwest, has suddenly vanished and is now the focus of an international partnership racing against time to save it from the brink of extinction.  “Just how quickly they disappeared is what’s really the alarming thing,” said David Pavlik, a research assistant with Michigan State University.  Pavlik is part of an international coalition of scientists and conservationists working to save the Poweshiek skipperling (pronounced POW-uh-SHEEK), an inconspicuous orange butterfly that was once so common in the prairies of the Midwest that collectors largely ignored it.  Now “there are […] - [Writing](https://ruththornton.com/writing/): Selection of my work For my author pages, check out: MLive, Great Lakes Echo, WKAR. I also have a weekly newsletter, Nature Signals, on Substack, and you can find me on Medium. - [Series: Butterfly declines](https://ruththornton.com/): Why are butterflies declining? Scientists are scrambling to find the answer before it’s too late The Poweshiek skipperling, a small, inconspicuous orange butterfly that once thrived throughout the extensive prairies of the Midwest, has disappeared from most areas where it used to occur. The Poweshiek (pronounced POW-uh-SHEEK) is not the only butterfly in trouble. Studies have shown that many species are declining throughout the U.S., as are insects in general.  This decline, sometimes referred to as the “insect apocalypse,” is alarming scientists. Fewer insects can have potentially far-reaching consequences for people because of the many ecosystem services they perform, including […] - [Privacy Policy](https://ruththornton.com/privacy-policy/): Who we are Our website address is: http://ruththornton.com. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment. Media If you upload images to […] - [About](https://ruththornton.com/about/): About Me I’m an environmental and science reporter with a M.A. degree in journalism from Michigan State University (MSU). These stories about the decline of butterflies and the Poweshiek skipperling are my professional project and were the final step toward my degree in August 2025. If you enjoyed the articles on this website, check out my weekly newsletter, Nature Signals, on Substack. You can also find me on Medium. Before switching to journalism, I earned a M.S. degree from MSU in Fisheries and Wildlife and have worked for more than 20 years in conservation with The Nature Conservancy’s West Virginia […] [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)